DSWD: Political candidates cannot enroll or delist 4Ps beneficiaries
The Department of Social Welfare and Development is reminding the public, especially the beneficiaries of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps) that no political candidate or incumbent politicians can enroll and include poor families to or delist them from the Program.
According to Nestor B. Ramos, Regional Director of the DSWD Field Office X, said that only the agency can include poor families to the Program, and can delist beneficiaries from it.
“The Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program is a poverty reduction initiative of the national government. It is being implemented with other national government agencies and with non-government organizations and civil society groups which are helping us monitor the implementation of the program. Our political candidates have no hold in the inclusion and exclusion processes of 4Ps,” Ramos explains.
He further stated that the DSWD no longer enroll families to the program since it has already conducted its second round household assessment last 2015 through Listahanan – the national household targeting system of the national government that identifies who and where the poor are in the country. “We have already finalized our list of beneficiaries for the 4Ps, and we are now making sure that these families are benefitting from the Program through their children’s education and health.”
“Should there be families who are not included in the Program but still needing assistance from DSWD, we have other social protection programs that can cater to their needs such as the Sustainable Livelihood Program (SLP), Social Pension, Assistance for Individuals in Crisis Situation (AICS), among others. We would be happy to assist them provided that they fall under the qualifications of the programs we have,” he added.
The DSWD assures the 4Ps beneficiaries that they can exercise their right to suffrage during this coming elections without the fear of being delisted from the program.
To date, there are 268,503 active beneficiaries under the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program in Northern Mindanao. xxx